UABA News Blog - In English

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After the shock and grief associated with the sudden murder of Boris Nemtsov, the former Russian deputy Prime Minister under President Boris Yeltsin, speculation grew about who killed him. Some reports linked Nemtsov’s death to his support for Ukraine in its armed conflict with Russia. For example, in one article Ukrainian PresidentPetro Poroshenkoblamed the Kremlin, alleging politicians were afraid of a report Nemtsov was due to share publicly linking Russia to the Ukrainian conflict. A friend of Nemtsov’s wasquotedby the BBC as saying,

For him the conflict between Ukraine and Russia was a real personal tragedy and he was trying to find any way to stop it. And he was trying to find proof that Mr Putin is sending our troops to Ukraine.

Nemtsov was aware not only of the loss of Russian troops, but also of the staggering humanitarian crisis that is unfolding in Ukraine which was recently described in the followingcomment made by Ilya Todorovich, a United Nations High Commission for Refugees representative,

… The government in Kiev has its hands full caring for almost a million internally displaced persons fleeing the fighting between government troops and rebels in eastern Ukraine …

The EU must ratchet up sanctions on Russia if the situation in Ukraine worsens, a Lords report warns today. The report also states that Russia’s action in a sovereign territory was unacceptable, but that in the run-up to the crisis, mistakes were made by the EU as well as Russia.

Report

The House of Lords EU Sub-Committee on External Affairs is issuing its warning in its report ‘The EU and Russia: before and beyond the crisis in Ukraine’.

The Committee also stresses the need for the EU to look beyond the present crisis by undertaking work on the terms on which its relationship with Russia should be conducted in the long term. The report highlights areas where the EU might be able to work with Russia to develop a genuinely collaborative relationship.

Key findings

Run-up to the crisis in Ukraine:

There was an element of sleep-walking into the Ukraine crisis, and EU institutions and Member States did not see it coming. The Committee found that the absence of political oversight was glaring.

Sanctions:

The EU should renew and tighten them in the short term if there is no progress on the Minsk Protocol and the situation in eastern Ukraine continues to deteriorate. Under those circumstances, the EU should target President Putin’s inner circle and broaden sanctions to the financial sector. However, in the long term, sanctions are detrimental to the EU's interests and the progressive removal of sanctions should be part of the EU’s negotiating position.

Role of the UK:

The Committee found that the Foreign Office has lost expertise and analytical capacity on Russia and the region, and that the UK and other Member States were unable to read events on the ground and offer an authoritative response. The Government needs to reconsider how it can regain these skills.

Ukraine:

Ukraine’s reconstruction needs considerably more funds than have already been committed. However, the disbursement of funds must come with conditions for reform, such as tackling corruption

A leading Russian opposition politician, former Deputy Prime Minister Boris Nemtsov, has been shot dead in Moscow, Russian officials say. An unidentified attacker in a car shot Mr Nemtsov four times in the back as he crossed a bridge in view of the Kremlin, police say. He died hours after appealing for support for a march on Sunday in Moscow against the war in Ukraine. BBC

A discussion of the situation in Ukraine (as of February, 2015) in its legal dimensions, including Ukraine's quest for democracy and rule of law as well as the legal consequences of the Crimean Peninsula's annexation. The emphasis is on the probable outcomes and impacts these events will have on Ukraine as well as other international players. The panelists are: Honorable Bohdan Futey was the U.S. Court of Federal Claims judge in 1987-2014, Victor Rud '76 is an international law attorney and a cofounder of the Ukrainian American Bar Association, Ivanna Bilych is an attorney, civil activist, and board member of Razom for Ukraine (Together for Ukraine). Sponsored by the International Law Society, National Security Law Society and Duke Bar Association.

Ukraine needs weapons to defend the positions it holds, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Pavlo Klimkin said on Monday when asked about possible arms supplies from the United States. "We need defensive weapons for peace, not for war, unlike the terrorists from Donetsk and Luhansk who use Russian weapons,"Klimkin said. UT. Read More

“Never again!” Europeans cried after the first world war. Then it happened again. “Never again!” Europeans cried after 1945; then it happened again. “Never again!” Europeans cried after Bosnia, in 1995, and now it has happened again. I hope as strongly as I doubt that theMinsk ceasefire agreement, brokered byAngela Merkel’s heroic efforts, will lead to peace. Yet even in the unlikely event that it does, look what we have already allowed to unfold. The Guardian. Read More

The United States “strongly condemned” the violation of a cease-fire by the separatists in Ukraine as fighting continued in the strategic crossroad town Debaltseve a day after rebels said they’d taken most of it under control. Rebels said Tuesday that hundreds of government troops surrendered in fighting that’s undermining the fragile truce. Ukraine’s military denied soldiers had surrendered. Russian President Vladimir Putin said Ukraine’s government shouldn’t prevent its troops from laying down their arms after the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic said it had taken control of most of the rail and highway junction linking the breakaway regions Donetsk and Luhansk. Bloomberg. Read More

Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko said that the creation of the Advisory International Council of Reforms, and the appointment of former Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili as its head, is needed to obtain the experience of supporters of Ukraine and to introduce reforms. UJ. Read More

Russian President Vladimir Putin is calling on pro-Russian rebels to allow besieged Ukrainian troops safe passage out of the encircled town of Debaltseve in eastern Ukraine.Speaking Tuesday in the Hungarian capital, Putin also urged the Kyiv government to allow its troops to surrender. Putin spoke alongside Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban as fighting raged in Debaltseve, despite an internationally brokered cease-fire announced last week by Putin and the leaders of Germany, France and Ukraine. Voice of America. Read More

A delegation of entirely anonymous German doctors are reported – by Russia – to have examined Nadiya Savchenko and found her condition “satisfactory”. There is no word from Germany about this visit, nor any serious statement regarding Moscow’s flagrant non-compliance with the Minsk II agreements in not releasing Savchenko who has now been on hunger strike for 66 days. The Kremlin indicated that it was flouting the Minsk II agreements within a day of the meeting on Feb 12 by stating clearly that it would not release Nadiya Savchenko. It left its proxies in Donbas to demonstrate no less brazen non-compliance with other key commitments. Human Rights in Ukraine. Read More